A relentless parade of storms batters California
A series of atmospheric rivers brought flooding, mudslides and heavy mountain snow after years of drought.
A relentless parade of powerful storms battered California in the early weeks of the year, as a series of atmospheric rivers slammed into the state in quick succession, bringing flooding, mudslides, damaging winds and heavy mountain snow after years of punishing drought.
Storm after storm rolled in off the Pacific, dropping enormous amounts of rain and snow across the state. Rivers overflowed, communities flooded, and saturated hillsides gave way in mudslides and debris flows, some in areas scarred by past wildfires. The relentless pace left little time for the ground to absorb the water or for crews to respond between systems.
The storms killed a number of people and caused widespread damage, but they also delivered a crucial boost to the state's depleted reservoirs and built up a massive mountain snowpack that would supply water through the drier months ahead.
The episode captured the "weather whiplash" increasingly characteristic of California's climate, in which prolonged drought is punctuated by bursts of extreme precipitation. Scientists note that a warming atmosphere holds more moisture, intensifying both the dry spells and the deluges.
For a state long caught between fire and water, the storms were both a relief and a hazard, easing drought while unleashing floods. They underscored the challenge of managing water in a climate of growing extremes, where years of scarcity can end in weeks of dangerous abundance.